Happy Halloween!!
           Halloween pre kids is totally different than Halloween with kids. I prefer with. I had so much fun tonight. Somehow it ended up being a family gathering at my house. Dereck and Tiff usually come Wednesdays anyways. Then Chelsi wanted to come help pass out candy. Then, it ended up being cold so I told everyone Bricen was dressing up but not getting out so feel free to stop by and see him. Then I realized we would all need to eat, right? :0) Baked spaghetti (Tried a new pinterest recipe that was yummy.), pumpkin bread, witches brooms, ghost cookies and one very cute cow later and it's a party!

Time out to do some laps on the hog.

Tiff: Are you guys dressing up?

Me: no

Tiff: Oh. Well we are.

Aren't they going to make good parents? Feb 26 we get to meet that yolk she's working on in there.

He loves him some Brett.

He loves his Mama too. He told me.

Grandma Juanita and her foxy new haircut.

Bricen and Daddy.

Happy Halloween pumpkin! Much better than our last Halloween spent in NICU! A cow is a much better costume than a NICU baby or baby Jesus like I joked you were last year!

        

Brit's Getting Hitched!
          It's Halloween night but I want to get these pictures posted before I move to pictures of the cutest cow you have ever seen...ever. :0) Daniel decided he would propose at Apple Works. Last week Brianna, Craig, Brett, Chelsi, Bricen and myself all went to Apple Works with him so he could scope the place out and come up with a game plan.

We made sure Bricen wore the shoes Brittani got him.

We walked through the barns at the Fair over the summer but Bricen wasn't real interested. He was more into the animals this time.

I'm pretty sure he would have tried to ride the animals like he does Akita if I would have let him.

And so Daniel had a game plan and we just had to wait for Friday night. I was very impressed that my sister kept this secret. She's not very good at keeping the good secrets. So we waited for Friday night...and waited and waited and waited...We all got together at Bri's house to surprise and help them celebrate after Daniel popped the question.

I know, I know. This is suppose to be about Brit and Daniel but from the looks of this picture Daniel might have to share.

A Congrats hug from Dad.

Her brother and cousin.

This is one of Brittani's other cousins. I think Bricen has a way with the ladies. He's got game like his Daddy.

This little guy did not come naked or leave naked but he chose this time to air things out a bit. It was funny and cute. His parents probably didn't agree. Haha

More cousins. Can you see a resemblance?

Her future in laws. We think Brit is pretty darn special and you are lucky to be getting an excellent addition to your family. :0) You better take good care of her.

As  you can tell Daniel is really intimidated by his future father in law.

This little guy had a serious face for most of the night but finally loosened up towards the end of the night. There are a lot more pictures that Brianna took. These are just the few that I had on my camera. We love you, Brit and Daniel. Your Grandma Rita would say to keep God at the center of your marriage and you will be just fine. :0) p.s. I will cry at their wedding....a lot. I can't believe our princess is old enough to be getting engaged!!! (Tear tear, sniffle sniffle, snot snot.)

          

Pictures!!
          I almost forgot to post these. We had 12 mo pics taken. I love allll of them. Our photographer is kind of amazing. :) And I love that she is okay with all the "props" and ideas I bring along. I only wish our lives allowed us to get some hang out time with her and her husband. I have high hopes that such things will start taking place as Bricen starts to hopefully get off tube feeds or at least making progress with that.

I love the smiley pictures but I equally love the pictures with this innocent look, too. And of course, the finger is still a part of pictures.

I forgot how much planning goes into pictures. Let's be honest, it was not hard work searching on Pinterest for inspiration for my props. :0) I have more favorite favorites but my computer is so slow and I'm so stinkin' tired and this makes me not fit to be around let alone blog. :0) I will blame Hurricane Sandy and get some shut eye. Prayers go out to those affected by Hurricane Sandy. "Sandy" sounds like such a nice name. Haha. I would give suggestions for what I would consider a more "appropriate" name for a Hurricane wreaking havoc but just as sure as I do someone with that name will be reading the blog. hahaha.

....as promised, here are the rest of my favorite favorites...

This look cracks me up. The teddy bear's name is Damon. He was my sister, Bridget's teddy bear before she passed away. His left eye is sunken in a little from where she would lay her head on his. Damon still sleeps with me sometimes. :0) While I wanted Damon in the pictures for sentimental reasons, it would take some serious negotiating on Bricen's part if he ever wanted to take Damon from his mama. :)

Happy Happy Boy.



On a roll...
          Truth be known, it's 0330 and Bricen's last feed just finished. He's restless and a little "gaggy" in his sleep so I am avoiding sleep until I'm sure he won't puke in his sleep. While I know why he does it, it still drives me a little bonkers that as soon as he starts to gag or puke he rears back and ends up on his back. In a perfect world he'd stay on his side so I don't have to stress as much about aspiration. Scratch that. In a perfect world there would be no puking. Speaking of...it's getting better. The naggy cough is still there and sometimes sends the food up. We are almost back to our baseline. We have a GI appt and speech therapy appt coming up this week. For some reason it makes me a little nervous. Just the whole weight gain, is it enough to satisfy. Developmental Pediatrician is always happier with Bricen's progress than GI...sigh.
          I've talked about Lucy's blog (or rather her mom's blog) on here before. One of her most recent post she stated "I believe that God uses our whole lives to ready us for big events so that when we are confronted with the task, we are prepared to handle it." I would have to agree with her. I've talked about my mom, my sister, etc. Yep. So true. We are still human and ask why though. I don't know if I'm more aware of it because of my own situation but it seems Facebook has been almost flooded with prayer request and pages set up specifically for children going through their own battles or that have passed away recently. It breaks my heart and makes me even more thankful for my puking pumpkin. And speaking of pumpkins...

Aunt Crystal was nice enough to take her half day off work and help us get ready for Bricen's birthday parties. (Depending on the day, how often we are feeding him, how empty his belly is, we still need a driver so I can ride in the back of the car and be able to suction him if need be.) Part of this included picking out some pumpkins!

Who you think weighs more? :0)

                                                    

We had another "first" last week. Marty went to hand Bricen to me and he started crying! Haha I told Marty this just meant he needed to spend more time with Bricen. It has nothing to do with Bricen loving Marty more than me. :) 

This kid makes a beeline for the fridge if the door is open! His crawl might be a little different but the kid can move!!

A great form of entertainment at times.

He was practically licking the door. I was unable to get a good picture of it.

And of course he is at the age where he wants to crawl away. This day he found the boots and pants slowed him down. Did I mention he is rotten??

hahaha

We have one more big announcement. Brittani and Daniel are engaged!! I have some pictures to go along with this but my camera has died so we will get to that another night. I am so happy for the two of them. It will be at least a year engagement but I think Daniel is already part of the family and a good addition at that. Love them both. And I am getting sooo old. My niece is engaged. (tear tear, sniffle sniffle, snot snot.)

Halloween is tomorrow!! Can't wait to post pics of Bricen in his outfit. I might be partial but it's pretty stinkin' adorable!

         

Look at this...

          Look at me. I'm posting again and it hasn't been a month. Ha. Time to catch up on the previous month and dump some pictures. Let's talk about those babies!!! Kim and Keith are having a boy. And Dereck and Tiff are having a.....

Girl!!! Tiff had these super cute cake pops made and when we bit into them they were pink, to reveal that it's a girl.

We also had Dinner at Red Lobster with Christopher for his birthday. 

It was so nice to get to celebrate with everyone and to get out as a family and go to dinner.

 Bricen's other cousin had a birthday party as well and we missed it because Bricen was still sick. :0(

This is where Scruff has started to sleep. But as I blog it's Akita that has this spot. Dare I say she is warming up to him?

This was a first...we were in the middle of changing his diaper and he was so sleepy he fell asleep.

Also in keeping with the norm, Bricen and Marty are getting creative with the laundry basket.

Something about it creeped me out so I ruined the fun and made them stop. Haha

The picture above and below is of Bricen's new shorts from therapy. They are sown together and are suppose to help him crawl correctly. He hasn't worn them much because I refuse to put them on him when he was so sick. That was just asking for the already cranky baby to get fussy and puke up what little food he was able to get in.

They are pretty funny looking.

The green shorts make even riding your "hog" hard sometimes.

Playing in the fort.

A picture "just because." Love him.

....Still more catching up to do.